Double disappointment, but clear growth

Varsity: It was another tough loss for the Royals, but they are purposely playing very strong competition for preseason to prepare for the League competition that has some top scores and some strong keepers.

Armijo struggled to play feet and connect passes in the first half, allowing for Valley to be 1st to the majority of the 50/50 air balls. This lead to Valley’s first goal in the last six minutes of the first half. Armijo played strong and held them off until the end but the Vikings maintained control of the ball for most of the first half.

The Royals had a good talk at half and pushed it home that if you want the ball you have to go get it and not let play happen around you. They came out strong in the first few minutes with a goal by Junior Diego Torres. Armijo held strong after but Valley came back even harder and were firing shots off on keeper Jonathon Harrington who made some great diving saves. However, the Royals started playing kickball again and Valley took advantage of ball possession and were able to get two more goals in the back of our net.

Armijo kicked it back into gear and had several of  shots on goal that were near misses but couldn’t sneak by the Valley defense who knew to collapse on Armijo’s key players and cut off their routes with 2-3 players. The Royals knew coming into this game that it would be tough, they had their moments where they stepped up to the plate and moved the ball flawless through and around the Valley players, but let simple mistakes and long balls bring down the play.

Armijo travels to Lincoln of Stockon on Wednesday, December 8, for another tough match. They have learned from every game and brought play up each time and Coach Flores is looking forward to see how the boys step up to the plate.

Junior Varsity (JV): The first 30 minutes of the game were very back and forth from both teams as sophomores Angel Murillo and Jackson Harrington were able to shut down any Valley plays. In the last 15 minutes of the first half, Valley took a shot from distance that went over freshman goalkeeper Abraham Martinez to make it 1-0 for the visitors.

In the second half, Armijo carried all of the momentum but could not find the back of the net. Freshman Francisco Orozco had a couple good shots while sophomore Edwing Pacheco scored a goal that was disallowed by the referee. Referees calls have not been in Armijo’s favor recently, as this was the second game in a row that a goal has been disallowed for an uncredible reason.

The match ended 1-0 and this was Coach Alonso’s first loss as the JV head coach since taking the role in 2020. Armijo JV had a 12-game undefeated streak, that included winning a league title last season with JV.